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The anti-inflammatory effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) has already been demonstrated in an animal model. The aim of this randomized, double-blind, versus placebo study is to assess this action on experimental gingivitis in humans. Over a 14-day period (day 0 - day 14), 37 healthy volonteers undertook intensive oral hygiene, and then did not brush their teeth for 21 days (day 14 - day 35) so that gingivitis could then develop. On day 28, the subjects were randomized in two groups: 18 in the treatment group (fish oil: 1.8 g of n-3 PUFA), 19 in the placebo group (olive oil), at a daily dose of 6 g over days (day 28 - day 35). The Plaque Index (PI), the Gingival Index (GI) and the Papilla Bleeding Index (PBI), as inflammation markers, were measured on day 14, day 28 and day 35. On day 28 and day 35, five volonteers of each group underwent removal of an interdental papilla to carry out the n-3 PUFA composition of cell membranes: arachidonic acid (AA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The results show the integration of EPA, DHA and DPA in the membranes of the cells removed and particularly a significant increase of EPA in the treatment group (p = 0.04 S). GI in the treatment group decreased significantly (p = 0.008 S). The level of AA decrease, but no significantly. It would therefore seem that the n-3 PUFA have an effect on the reduction of gingival inflammation in this experimental gingival model in humans., Une étude randomisée en double aveugle, versus placebo a examiné l’effet potentiel des oméga-3 polyinsaturés pendant 8 jours à la dose de 1,8 grammes par jour chez 37 volontaires sains présentant une gingivite expérimentale. Il est constaté, dans le groupe traité une augmentation significative (p = 0,04 S) de l’EPA (acide eicosapentaénoïque) attestant de la présence du médicament in situ, une diminution significative de l’indice gingival GI (p = 0,008 S) et une diminution non significative de AA (acide arachidonique). Ces résultats suggèrent une amélioration de l’état inflammatoire dans ce modèle de gingivite expérimentale par les oméga-3, chez l’homme.

The McGurk effect is a well known perceptual phenomenon in which listeners perceive [da], when presented with visual instances of [ga] syllables combined with the audio of [ba] syllables. However, the underlying cognitive mechanisms are not yet fully understood. In this study, we investigated the McGurk effect from the perspective of two learning theories – the Exemplar theory and Discriminative Learning. We hypothesized that the McGurk effect arises from distributional differences of the [ba, da, ga] syllables in a lexicon of a given language. We tested this hypothesis using computational implementations of these theories, simulating learning on the basis of lexica in which we varied the distributions of these syllables systematically. These simulations support our hypothesis. For both learning theories, we found that the probability of observing the McGurk effect in our simulations was greater, when lexica contained a larger percentage of [da] and [ba] instances. Crucially, the probability of the McGurk effect was inversely proportional to the percentage of [ga], what ever the percentage of [ba] and [da]. To validate our results, we inspected the distributional properties of [ba, da, ga] in different languages for which the McGurk effect was or was not previously attested. Our results mirror the findings for these languages. Our study shows that the McGurk effect – an instance of multi-modal perceptual integration – arises from distributional properties in different languages and thus depends on language learning.

Agricultural wastes are composed by lignocellulose, which has three main components: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose is desirable for producing biofuels and other added-value products, but lignin hinders its access. Therefore, a pretreatment for these wastes is needed to remove this phenylpropanoid polymer. Biological pretreatment with ligninolytic enzymes can efficiently perform a modification of lignin structure. In this research, the goal was to study changes in lignin across enzymes produced in a semi-solid culture of Pleurotus ostreatus. From these assemblies, the liquid phase, which is also an enzymes-rich aqueous extract were retrieved in different culture days. Lignin-rich substrates and enzymes-rich aqueous extracts were characterized measuring laccase activity and phenolic content for the aqueous extracts and lignin concentration for the substrate and then let to react to test for delignification, achieving a value of about 11.5% on all culture days with laccase activity. Morphological and structural changes were studied demonstrating not notice changes in the biomass., Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 1346-1350

Semi-solid culture has shown a convenient control of the cultivation as well as high laccase activities. Thus, in this work, P. otreatus was used in biological pre-treatment of rice husk using a semi-solid culture. . A selectivity to hemicellulose degradation by P. ostreatus was found. Nevertheless, it changed to cellulose after day 15. Exo-glucanase activity was the larger observed of hydrolases with an average maximum value of 1,300 U/L. Thus, in order to avoid cellulose degradation in pre-treatment with P. ostreatus it should be stopped at day 15. Additionally, fungal biomass profile showed a logistic behavior related at first with space limitations in the flask. Furthermore, in aqueous extracts reducing sugars concentration were up to 13 g/L. On the other hand, the aqueous extracts obtained in semi-solid culture showed a dephenolization capacity. Accordingly, this sub-product of pre-treatment is suitable in bioremediation applications. Finally, an inhibition resistance of P. ostreatus was related to higher laccase activity and dephenolization capacity. The reached delignification in 23 days of pretreatment was around 9%, and biomass digestibility of rice husk increased 57%. This work, suggests high laccase activity is not necessarily high delignification percentages in pre-treatment., Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 1364-1371

Government budgets are now seen and used as an important tool in removing gender inequalities. As a matter of fact, gender-sensitive budgeting (GSB) practices are done by taking into account of gender inequality according to economic, political and social structures in many countries and also Turkey. On the other hand, although GSBs are a budgeting approach that can be implemented at central and local levels, they are considered to be particularly effective at local level, in this context local governments, especially municipalities are seen as the main actors, Devlet bütçeleri artık toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliklerini ortadan kaldırmada önemli bir araç olarak görülmekte ve uygulanmaktadır. Nitekim günümüzde birçok ülkede ve Türkiye’de siyasal ve sosyal yapılara göre toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliği dikkate alınmak suretiyle cinsiyete duyarlı bütçeleme (CDB) çalışmaları yapılmaktadır. Diğer yandan merkezi ve yerel düzeyde uygulanabilecek bir bütçeleme yaklaşımı olsa da CDB’lerin özellikle yerel düzeyde sonuç verici ve etkili olduğu kabul edilmekte, bu kapsamda yerel idareler, özellikle de belediyeler CDB’lerin uygulanmasında ana aktör olarak görülmektedir Türkiye’de cinsiyete duyarlı bütçeleme çalışmaları henüz çok yenidir ve cinsiyete duyarlı bütçeleme konusu Türkiye’de gerek bürokrasi gerekse akademi nezdinde az bilinen ve çok az çalışılmış bir alandır. Dolayısıyla katkı sağlayacak çalışmalara ihtiyaç vardır. Bu bağlamda bu çalışmada; Türkiye’deki büyükşehir belediyelerinin bütçeleri toplumsal cinsiyet perspektifinden analiz edilerek belediyelerin bütçeleme sürecine ne ölçüde eşitlikçi bakış açısını dahil ettiği (toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği hedeflerinin/amaçlarının/göstergelerinin ne derecede yansıtıldığı) ortaya çıkarılmaya çalışılmıştır. Araştırma verileri Türkiye’deki 30 büyükşehir belediyesinin faaliyet raporları üzerinden elde edilen verilerle sınırlıdır. Nitel araştırma yaklaşımı benimsenerek gerçekleştirilmiş olan araştırmanın verileri doküman incelemesi yoluyla elde edilmiş ve betimsel analiz ile çözümlenmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda elde edilen bulgularla; belediye bütçelerindeki eşitlikçi bakış açısını yansıtan durumlar ve iyi uygulama örnekleri veya eşitlikçi bakış açısını yansıtma konusundaki yetersizlikleri tespit edilerek gerek yerel yönetimlerin cinsiyet eşitliğini bütçelerine nasıl yansıtabileceklerine yönelik çözüm önerilerinin geliştirilmesi gerekse iyi uygulama örneklerinin konunun tüm tarafları ile paylaşılması hedeflenmiştir. Çalışmanın diğer bir hedefi ise; toplumsal cinsiyete duyarlı bütçeleme konusunda hem bütçe uygulayıcıları hem de kamuoyu nezdinde farkındalığın artırılmasına ve bundan sonraki dönemlerde bütçe, kalkınma planları ve diğer mali belgelerin hazırlanmasında cinsiyet eşitliğinin göz önüne alınmasına katkıda bulunabilmektir